Who Does The Housing Bill Help? Join the Discussion

We invite you join an interesting discussion concerning the Housing Rescue Bill. Readers have been debating over who benefits from the Housing Rescue Bill, and who’s going to end up paying for the relief. Is this bill a savior to homeowners on the brink? Or, is it another bailout for irresponsible borrowers?

Sue writes:

Rural communitees need help just getting families into houses under $75,000, not helping someone pay for there $325,000 home who has over $10,000 in credit card debit. Wake up American’s be responsible, the free ride needs to be over. Our country is in debit and I would like to see it get out before my children are adults.

J-Hem writes:

Hey Sue, what would you do if your $75K home suddenly lost 30-40% of it’s value in a matter of a few months? Dropping property values erase one’s abilities to do the responsible thing when they can no longer afford their home ie : sell, or refinance. The impact of millions of displaced homeowners, loans gone bad and abandoned homes is more than enough to justify this bill I assure you.

Rd writes:

Jhem, before you even bought your home, you knew what kind of income you bring in annually and received an estimated monthly payments for your housing. The value of your home going down has no relationship to you making payments. Your mixing two different issues…

Like Sue said, this is helping out all those that weren’t responsible enough to wait until families had enough funds to purchase a home within their means. And this means using proper ratios of 25-30% of their income to match the housing payment, not higher.

Kathy writes:

I totally agree w/ Sue. I moved to another city (I’m single childless hardworking female) so tried to sell my house in my old city with no luck unless i wanted to lose $50,000.

But the reason my house depreciated in value by $50,000 is because of all the foreclosures on the market of people wanting to live in $400,000 houses making $50,000/year.

So to J-Hem my house has lost 20% in value and I’m not in foreclosure!!!!

The mortgage lenders are the experts and are the ones with the authority and final say. All they have to do is say “Sorry, you are not qualified for this one.”. One can not lend themselves the money, the professionals should know better.

Also, there are instances when circumstances beyond ones control are the cause for not being able to make a mortgage payment, even if they were financially capable. I know of one instance where a painter fell from a ladder, became disabled, obviously he could no longer work and lost his home.
Another was when yet another painter who lives in a rural area and who also was qualified financially to buy his home but because of the increase of gas and food and other items people could not afford to have their homes painted, and those condos that were sprouting out like weeds by those greedy people could not be finished and were left as is. Jobs for him were slim pickings. His hours dwindled from 40+ to 10 -15 hours a week, and because he lived in a small town, there just were no other jobs around. He took what ever jobs were available but that caused him to be late in payments, and when he called the mortgage company as soon as the situation starting getting rough, he called the lenders and they told him there was nothing he could do unless he was 3 to 4 months behind in payment. ????? He had not stopped making payments, they were late, and YET, they would send him letters of threat to him that he would lose his home and that his credit would be shot. CREDIT, really? The company was Wells Fargo, no less, the ones battling to buy Wachovia.
My point, it is NOT just those living beyond their means are being affected, unfortunately.

Thanks for commenting, you’ve made some really great points. Lenders do hold a lot of responsibility, they issued the loan, it’s up to them to do the research on the borrower to determine if they’re qualified.

Small, rural town has be greatly affected by the foreclosure and housing crisis. That’s one of the main reasons the gov decided to include a $25 billion assistance to the US “big 3″ automakers — Ford, GM, and Chrysler. There are so many small towns that survive solely on the factories that produce just one car part. Point being, small towns as you pointed out are just as stuck, if not more, than anyone else.

Thanks for reading, great comment.

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About the HSH Blog

HSH.com's daily blog focuses on the latest developments in the mortgage and housing markets. Our mission is to relate how changes in mortgage rates and housing policy, as well as the latest financial news, impacts consumers, homebuyers and industry insiders alike. Our 30-plus years of experience in the mortgage industry gives us an edge as we break down the latest changes in an ever-changing market.

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Tim Manni

Tim Manni is the Managing Editor of HSH.com and the author of their daily blog,
which concentrates on the latest developments in the mortgage and housing
markets.